Firing Kay, Mark Hewitt Pottery, Spring 2016
It was chilly when Evan, Stillman and I got down to the kiln at 5:40am. Adrian, Dustin and Sam were moving like a well-oiled machine whilst we brushed sleep out of our eyes. The temp was right up there at 2400 in the front chamber. Cone 12 was over in the first two stacks and bending in the back. A fine effort from the night crew had put us in a good position. The key had been small regular stokes. We took over and had the front chamber finished sharpish, moving on to the second chamber and opening the first to rapidly cool it. Firing this kiln is unusual as you fire each chamber in turn and cool it as soon as its done. Slow cooling can lead to sugary matte surfaces on the pots rather than glossy ones. The second chamber raced up and only took us a couple of hours to get cone 12 flat. As the sun rose we saw a large heron fly over the kiln shed, high above us; this is always a good omen--Michael Cardew watching our progress.
By 9am we were concentrating on the third chamber. Mark manned the ship, slowly transitioning our stoking pattern from feeding both chambers two and three to just three. Adding a little extra air by keeping the fire box doors slightly ajar helped the burn. By 12:30pm we were done, much to everyone's surprise. We had planned on going until midnight if necessary, and had cut enough wood to do so.
The relief of being done early had us all in high spirits and we enjoyed some cold beverages, a few loop-de-loops on the rope swing, and some marvelous coconut crust quiche that Carol had made. Mark sprayed down the rafters of the kiln to cool them off, we clammed her up and slid in the damper. A glorious collection of bees made their hive in the red clay earth near the kiln, seemingly unaware of all the activity around them. All in all the firing was a very smooth affair. We got the kiln hot, really hot, all over--in the front of the third chamber the cones were obliterated. The test rings we pulled out looked good too.
In the time it's taken me to post this, we have been through the grueling
week of waiting to crack her open and have now unloaded. The results were
excellent and many of our experimental glazes came out very nicely. Soon
I will post with pics of the pots!
By 9am we were concentrating on the third chamber. Mark manned the ship, slowly transitioning our stoking pattern from feeding both chambers two and three to just three. Adding a little extra air by keeping the fire box doors slightly ajar helped the burn. By 12:30pm we were done, much to everyone's surprise. We had planned on going until midnight if necessary, and had cut enough wood to do so.
The relief of being done early had us all in high spirits and we enjoyed some cold beverages, a few loop-de-loops on the rope swing, and some marvelous coconut crust quiche that Carol had made. Mark sprayed down the rafters of the kiln to cool them off, we clammed her up and slid in the damper. A glorious collection of bees made their hive in the red clay earth near the kiln, seemingly unaware of all the activity around them. All in all the firing was a very smooth affair. We got the kiln hot, really hot, all over--in the front of the third chamber the cones were obliterated. The test rings we pulled out looked good too.
Reduction. |
Adrian checking the cones in the back of the first chamber. |
Adrian and Dustin stoking the firebox. |
Exactly where we want to be. |
Before we started stoking this chamber. |
Evan was down visiting me from Burlington, VT. I roped him into helping out with the firing. |
Stoking the firebox of chamber 2. |
View of the kiln from the side. |
Firebox door. |
You can see the reflection on the bellies of the pots in there. |
Test rings. Glazes looking good. Clay nicely cooked. |
More test rings. |
Stillman stoking into the middle of chamber 2. |
This little guy was hanging out on the wood stack. |
Mark, Adrian and I all incised quite a few lizards on our pots this time. There are so many lizards around the Hewitt pottery! |
The kiln from afar. |
Mark and Evan clamming up the main fireboxes. |
Working hard. |
Evan stoking chamber 3 firebox. |
These look like ant excavations but are actually made by small bees. |
Bee art. |
Stoking the very back of the kiln; heavy reduction going on! |
You can just see some fat bellies here. |
During the cool down the color of the pots goes from bright orange to red. |
Test Firing Results!
In my last post I wrote about the experiments we have been doing with new glazes using local raw materials. We fired just the front chamber of Mark's new wood kiln (built in 2007) with a whole bunch of test glazes and glaze combinations. Now all of the pots have been sanded down and put out on the shelves for this weekends pop up sale. The results of the firing were pleasing on the whole. We learned a lot, figuring out which glazes work, which don't, and which to use slips under each.
Below are a smattering of pots, not necessarily the best of the bunch, just a sampler to show some of the different results. It was getting dark when I took these snaps so the colours aren't as bright as in real life, but anyway first up here are some of mine...
Now some of Adrian's...

And a few of Marks...
To end on here are a few pots in progress in the studio. Mark has been making some gigantic pots for the next firing as the side door to the second chamber of this kiln is larger than in the salt kiln. Each of these pots take four people to move and weigh between 250-350lbs!
And finally here's one of my fishy casserole dishes. First attempt at a slip trailed fish!
Below are a smattering of pots, not necessarily the best of the bunch, just a sampler to show some of the different results. It was getting dark when I took these snaps so the colours aren't as bright as in real life, but anyway first up here are some of mine...
Shino yunomi. |
Celadon yunomi on left, ash glaze on right. |
Ash glaze sppon holder on left and celadon on the right with red slip trailed under. |
Celadon barrel mug with red slip dots, ash glaze dipped over on the rim. |
Shino tumblers with iron and manganese slips trailed under. |
Albany slip vase over wiped red slip. |
I am actually unsure of what glaze combo this is. Will have to ask Adrian! |
Various mixing bowls. |
Celadon mixing bowl with red slip decoration. |
Small bowl with nuka glaze over red slip swirls. |
Pair of tumblers with white glaze swishes over celadon (plus 1% iron oxide). |
Same as the tumblers above. |
Large platter with one glaze on top of another with wax resist rings. |
Celadon vases. These look super in the sub: a shiny light translucent blue. Very nice. |
Celadon serving bowls with red slip trailed and dotted underneath. |
Celadon over sgraffito decoration. |
Celadon over red slip. |
Ash glaze stein. Look close and you can see the head and arms of a sgraffito lizard. |
This glaze is called Rocky 12, believe it or not. |
Close up of the Rocky 12 surface. |
Celadon serving bowl with red slip dots under. |
Getting ready for the sale. |
Four medium sized pots from the salt kiln, out on sale this weekend. |
Big unfired pots. |
Ribbon vase (unfired). I'm excited to see how this one turns out. |
Fish stew anyone? |